Liquidating the Inventory of Life

In a retail business, inventory is a double-edged sword—a necessary evil. A retail operation needs enough stock on hand to avoid empty shelves, which will alienate customers and reduce sales. But, they must be careful not to have so much inventory that is starts to burden the business. Excess inventory requires warehousing and storage. It depreciates, creates opportunity for theft, and can become obsolete. It takes up floorspace that can be used for revenue generation. Like the wind, inventory is only beneficial when it moves—and creates cash flow. The turnover of inventory, rather than inventory itself, is the lifeblood of retail.

Why, then, is the personal inventory of our lives treated so differently?

We view “Life inventory” altogether differently. We’ll let items sit in drawers or closets for decades without ever using or gaining value from them. Why is this? Why do you need 23 bath towels when three would do just fine? Perhaps this is due to attachment we have with the items we own. While this is to be expected for things like photo albums or a childhood stuffed animal (like my Kermit doll, at the top), we mysteriously maintain this attachment for odd things like DVDs we never watch, books we’ll never read, a video game we never play, electronics that have long-since been useful, or exercise equipment that has never felt a bead of sweat. These things have no embedded emotional attachment apart from the fact that they’re “ours,” we paid a lot for them at one time, and we don’t want to get rid of them.

Look around your home? Every item you own is a SKU of inventory in your own business of life. Some of our life inventory gives us value every day (a cell phone, a favorite pair of jeans, the windows of your home, a bicycle) or has such low carrying costs and market value that removing the inventory would yield no real benefit (digital media, a high school yearbook, or old love letters). For this sort of inventory, keeping it on hand makes sense. Unfortunately, we gain almost no value from almost all of what we own—yet we continue to own it, anyway.

The Case of the Invisible Net Worth

A few months back I decided to take stock of a couple rooms in our house. We are certainly not hoarders; I pride myself in having several completely empty kitchen drawers (how many others can make such a claim?). However, one night while walking around with the baby, a bulb began to burn brightly in my mind…”where the heck did all this come from,” I said to myself. After living perfectly fine for a year in a Manhattan apartment that was one-tenth the size of our home (and with only one-fiftieth of our possessions), I posited to myself, “why all the rest?”

One drawer or closet after another was relatively filled with “stuff.” A dozen flower vases, hundreds of pens, a half-dozen seldom-worn suits, knick knacks, paddywhacks, you get the idea. I took out a notepad and started writing it all down. By my wife’s urging, I’m not listing it here (house pornography), but the living room and kitchen alone were 230 separate items. I even assigned a conservative resale market value to each item, over $3,000 in total. I found $3k in “stuff” in just two rooms with a cursory inventory survey. Why, Eric? Why do you have all of this? If I extrapolated this experiment over our entire home, I expect I’d arrive at EASILY over $100k in inventory. Three full bedroom sets and mattresses, plus a nursery?! This was eye-opening.

I set out on a mission. Liquidate. I knew this wasn’t going to be an overnight thing, I’m not these guys, so I started with easy things: books, video games, and DVDs. One-by-one, items were added to my online Amazon inventory. Soon, I expanded. When we cleared our NYC apartment in August, we Craigslisted what furniture we could. Like a consumerist onion, as we peeled back layers of inventory, a seemingly never-ending pile of “more” appeared.

So, I got going…

I got efficient. Rather than paying for USPS mailers, I went on Amazon and bought a box of Bubble Mailers. These things work for most small items, and they’re under 30 cents a pop. And because I was dealing in high-volume, I would try to only go to the post office once I had two or more orders. And, luckily, a post office is about 100 feet from my job.

I got creative. Rather than trashing a broken laptop, I sold the battery and the power cord. Or, rather than leaving all that old DirecTV equipment sit in a closet (we cut the cord this year), I sold all the remotes, cords, and gear that they left behind. Finders keepers. I started looking at stuff differently. Everything either needed a real purpose, or it’s going into the online storefront.

I got smart. Knowing I’ve been using my work laptop exclusively, I sold my hardly-used Chromebook. (If I leave the company, I can always buy another in about 48 hours—for probably less than what I sold this one for). And why, oh why, did we still have two Garmins when all we ever use are our iPhones for GPS? An easy $50.

I got surprised. Who’da thunk that Turtles in Time for Super Nintendo would sell for $56.94? The same price as the system itself? Or that an old workout DVD would sell for $18, when you can stream every workout imaginable on YouTube? It’s still amazing to me what some things will sell for.

I got money.Life-changing money. $1,580.61 in net sales (sale price less fees) since mid-August. From a total of 49 items. That’s just under $100 and 3 items per week. I continue to make a goal of listing $100 a week worth of stuff. The sale itself is more erratic, but I can control the pace of how much I list.

I got space. Any square foot used for storage is one less square foot that can be used for something else. A common question I get for some low-value things I sell (like DVDs) is, “Eric, why sell something if you are barely going to break even?” Easy answer: “Why not?” So much of what we have has ZERO value to us. In fact, because it is taking up space in our home and minds, and occupying space that could be used for something useful (an opportunity cost), it actually has NEGATIVE value. If you can get $1, or even $0, in order to remove something with NEGATIVE value, why wouldn’t you?

I got enlightened. No matter how much I sell, I never miss a single thing. Never once have I said, “Oh, dang, I wish I hadn’t sold ______.” Never. In the rare impossible event that I regret selling something, I can easily buy it back for the same or (since junk depreciates) lower price. In a way, I’m just letting my inventory depreciate on somebody else’s balance sheet.

I get aggressive. I list things even if they’re not suitable for selling. I sold a case of golf balls a while back, knowing full well that all 20 balls were scattered throughout the home (babies love golf balls). When it sold, it was a mad rush to find all 20, but who cares? Same thing for a stereo that’s currently up for sale. The thing works fine, but the remote is long gone. If/when it sells, I’ll just buy a remote immediately and send it along to the buyer.

I get happy. It feels so good to get e-mails now. I have this rather massive (to me, at least) online inventory of stuff. Every couple of days, an e-mail pops in. Would you believe that as I’m typing this right now, I got an e-mail that I just sold my “Bart vs. The Juggernauts” Gameboy game? Unbelievable. That’s the power of positive thinking, for ya. When an e-mail comes in, my typical reaction is, “Oh, I forgot I even had that on there.” That night, I’ll put the item in my backpack and the following day I’ll drop it off at the post office. It’s seamless. I lose nothing, I gain space, and I gain money.

I get excited. Perhaps the most exciting part of all of this is that I’ve barely started. Even though we live rather sparsely (compared to most Americans, that is), this is still like trying to empty Fresh Kills with a handshovel. Everywhere I turn I see more opportunity…big opportunity. A set of tires, a couple bedroom sets, a brand new king size mattress, a couch and loveseat, dozens upon dozens more DVDs and books. Where the eff did all these DVDs come from?! A lifetime of excess purchases. It doesn’t need to be done overnight; I like moving at a nice methodical pace. Therefore, I’ll just keep listing $100 per week in stuff, keep the inventory updated (so I’m always the lowest price), and let Amazon’s billion consumers peck away at it.

$100 per week might be a high estimation long term. Eventually, I figure, the low-hanging fruit will be sold. But, if I can sell just $20/week into perpetuity, by the time our first-born is a college Sophomore, I’ll have over $50k (at 8% interest)–enough for a few years of in-state tuition. Is it possible that my daughter’s college education fund is just sitting around in closets and drawers? Yah, it probably is. That’s the power of time and compound interest.

Selling your obsolete life inventory is, quite possibly, my favorite side hustle. The benefits are immense and immediate: more space, less clutter, more freedom (assuming you ever move residences and need to box up all that crap), zero loss, and a little tax-free money in your pocket. Once you start selling, you’ll realize that you own more than you think, and certainly more than you need. The liquidation is self-reinforcing, too. You’ll find you get invigorated to list more and more—like a little perpetual yard sale.

26 Comments

One of my goals in 2016 is to definitely declutter. I HATE inventory too! I went to a 400 sqft smaller house in 2014, so that let me get rid of 8 or so bags of stuff. But I plan to give away at least 3 more.

I do have a lot of stuff… but at least it is a lot of OLD stuff. If you can’t get rid of your old stuff, then you better not be buying new stuff!

My wife and I are doing the same thing, though she just wants to donate everything and I want to sell most of it. I do FBA for things I buy for clearance in retail and resell on amazon but I didn’t think of sending my used stuff to them. Do you do that FBA or just send on per person when the request the item? you said your posting $100 worth of stuff how long would you say you spend on it in a weeks time?Tyler recently posted…Free Isn’t Always Free!

I probably spend less than 15 minutes a week on it. I literally am only 100 feet from a post office at work, so that only takes five minutes. Posting items to Amazon (and I don’t deal with enough quantity to use FBA) takes about 60 seconds per item.

I suppose I have to fill out envelopes, but that’s really gettin picky. It’s very little time altogether.

We moved about two years ago and in an effort to reduce our stuff, I did something similar. It’s really really liberating to sell stuff, especially stuff you don’t use, and recapture a little bit of the money there. I’ve found that the money is great but the space is even better.

I found so many times the “stuff” is there because I just haven’t gotten rid of it yet. It’s not like I’m saving it for a specific reason, it’s because I haven’t had a reason to get rid of it yet!Jim Wang recently posted…7 Perks Credit Card Companies Hope You Forget You Have!

I think you’re talking about MercadoLibre? I’ve been short puts on MELI for a couple years. The currency translation has made it tough to make good money, but the business is pretty solid. It’s too bad that it’s difficult for third-parties to sell on there, though.

I had the pleasure of knowing a Brazilian foreign exchange student. He couldn’t stop buying electronics. Apperently, most popular consumer electronics (iPhone, PS4, XBox, etc…) cost at least triple in Brazil, despite the lower income. Tough spot to be in.

I feel like is article was meant for me. I’m using a local varagesale site or kijiji (I’m a canuck) but the stuff is slowly moving. We merged 2 homes and have so much duplication – duplication + my borderline OCD means I’m going crazy. My husband is very slow coming onboard. Doesn’t help that most of the stuff I want to sell is his. That said, anything that’s mine that I want to sell has been posted (most sold). It’s absolutely liberating to have the stuff gone.

Hi Helen, Thanks so much for the comment! I’m glad it struck home with you.

A spouse’s stuff is always tougher (Since you need permission). I tend to give my wife the cash at the outset, like as a gift, then I keep the proceeds of the sale. I net nothing, but the household gets richer and less cluttered.

I was just thinking about the iPad I don’t use anymore because I have a great new lightweight Macbook or the Nikon dslr that sits around because my iPhone takes amazing photos. Like you said these are just two items for two weeks, what will I sell on the other fifty weeks this year. Now to get listing!

I started decluttering after reading Marie Kondo’s book, and it is just as life changing as you—and she—describe. Stuff is a burden. Removing it is a relief. Even if you earn $0 by removing it, it’s a usually a net positive because useless stuff weighs you down into the negative. I needed to read this again. In fact, I’m going to hit my garage right now and start some decluttering out there I’ve been wanting to do. Cheers!

It depends on the items, really. Amazon is so freakin’ seamless that they have become my go-to more 90% of my items. Infrequently, I’ll have an item that is more custom (like a Wii System with controllers and a couple games) where it makes more sense to just set up an eBay auction.

Craigslist is useful for items that wouldn’t make any sense to ship, like furniture or tires.

One of my chief pleasures is converting useless crap in our house into cash. Of course if my wife catches me, the pleasure can quickly become pain. 🙂Kurt recently posted…Stocks: Too Risky for Retirement

It’s easy to see how both minimalism and frugality are philosophies / life choices that mesh well with the concept of FI. I think they are in some ways complementary philosophies, but sometimes can be conflicting.

For example, my frugal nature makes me want to buy a thing at a great price, even though I might not need said thing. It also makes me want to hang onto a thing that I’m not using now, but “think” I might use later. I’d hate to have to buy another one of that thing again.

Minimalist principles would prevent me from buying the thing and allow me to part with the other thing. I’m working on finding a balance that embraces both frugality and minimalism. In my life, frugality has prevailed, but I’m beginning to see the advantages of minimalism and working to incorporate minimalist principles to simplify my life.PhysicianOnFIRE recently posted…The PoF Portfolio

I’m currently in the process of liquidating most of my stuff as I’m getting ready to move. It’s hard to believe just how much unused stuff I have, in fact it’s a bit overwhelming! But I’m just doing a little at a time organizing and taking into inventory everything I want to sell (which just about everythin.)